La Crosse Technology 2800 Weather Radio User Manual


 
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RELATIVE(AIR)PRESSURE
WHATISRELATIVEPRESSURE?
Relative(alsoreferredtoasatmospheric)pressureisdefinedastheforceperunitareaexertedagainstasurface
bytheweightofairabovethatsurfaceatanygivenpointintheEarth’satmosphere.
Basically,eventheatmospherehasweight.Formostpurposes,wecangetairpressurebymeasuringthe
hydrostaticpressurecausedbythe
weightofairaboveacertainpoint.
Lowpressureareashavelessatmosphericmassabovetheirlocation,whereashighpressureareashavemore
atmosphericmassabovetheirlocation.Aselevationincreasesthereislessoverlyingatmosphericmass,sothat
pressuredecreaseswithincreasingelevation.
AIRPRESSUREANDWEATHERFORECASTING
Airpressureiscommonlyusedforweatherprediction,asaregionofhighairpressureindicatesfairweather,while
lowpressuretellsusthatrainorstormsaremorelikely.Whenusedincombinationwithwindobservations,
reasonablyaccurateshorttermforecastscanbemade.
Eachgeographicareahasitsown
‘normal’rangeofairpressurevalues.Youcanobtainthisinformationfromyour
localweatherreportingstation(e.g.theairport).Withthatinformation,youcancalibratetheweatherdisplayto
thereportingstation(seeOperationsManualforaccessingtheSETmenu).Whencalibrated,therelativeincrease
anddecreaseinair
pressurevalueswillcorrelatewithyourlocalmediareports.Ifyoudoso,rememberthatany
hardwareresetwillrequiretheweatherdisplaytoberecalibrated.
Simultaneousrelative/airpressurereadingsfromacrossanetworkofweatherstationsallowmapsofairpressure
areastobeproduced,whichwerethefirst
formofthemodernweathermapwhencreatedinthe19thcentury.
Isobars(linesofequalpressure),whendrawnonsuchamap,givesacontourmapshowingareasofhighandlow
pressure.
Localizedareasofhighatmosphericpressureactasabarriertoapproachingweathersystems,divertingtheir
course.Lowatmosphericpressure,ontheotherhand,representsthepathofleastresistanceforaweather
system,makingitmorelikelythatlowpressurewillbeassociatedwithincreasedstormactivities.
Typicallywithpersonalweatherforecasting,wefocusonthechangeinairpressureovertime.Thelargerthe
change
inpressure,especiallyifmorethan3.5hPa(0.10inHg),thelargerthechangeinweathercanbeexpected.
Ifthepressuredropisrapid,itindicatesthatalowpressuresystemisapproaching,andthereisagreaterchanceof
rain.Rapidpressurerisesareassociatedwithimprovingweather
conditions,suchasclearingskies.
RELATIVEPRESSUREALARM
Youcanconfigureanalarmtosoundwhentherelativepressuregoesaboveorbelowacertainpoint.Formore
detailsonhowtosetanalarm,seethesectiononSettingAlarms
.